Profile: A (possibly temporary) move to the bullpen gave Tim Stauffer a little velocity boost, but it looks like eschewing his 90 mph heater in favor of his slider has been the larger part of his success the last two years. In 2010, a career-high ground-ball rate (54.5%) hearkened back to the promise he showed in his younger, pre-injury years. After a slight blip in 2009, his control has definitely returned since he missed all of 2008 to surgery on a partially torn labrum. Then again, that control has mostly been there whether it was last year (2.61 BB/9) or career (3.03 BB/9). Given his modest velocity and stuff, an ERA near four is a good bet -- but that will include his work on the road. In fantasy baseball, we all know that any passable San Diego pitcher is worth something extra when he's at home. Stauffer will fall in that difficult range between spot-starter and bench starter in mixed leagues, but that should mean a decent return on a low price, however you use him. (Eno Sarris)

The Quick Opinion: It's tough to come back from labrum surgery, but if you can do it anywhere, it's in San Diego. Stauffer will fall in that difficult range between spot-starter and bench-starter, but he should be useful.

Profile: Stauffer was just a notch below an ace for the first three-and-a-half months of 2011, pitching to a 2.83 ERA with a 6.61 strikeout rate and 1.20 WHIP. His last eleven starts didn't go as well (5.55 ERA, 4.96 K/9, and 1.36 WHIP), and the right-hander finished the season on the shelf due to stiffness in his throwing arm. Stauffer's strikeout (6.34), walk (2.58) and ground ball (52.6%) rates were basically unchanged from 2010 to 2011 despite the move into the rotation, though his homerun rate spiked significantly (0.33 HR/9 in 2010 vs. 0.97 in 2011). It's worth noting that 12 of the 20 homers he allowed came in his final eight starts of the year. It's entirely possible that fatigue caused his late-season decline following a big jump in innings, but Stauffer is unlikely to be anything more than back of the fantasy rotation fodder going forward. The ERA and WHIP might be shiny, but he's unlikely to provide many strikeouts or wins given the team around him. (Mike Axisa)

The Quick Opinion: Stauffer's late-season drop-off could have been the result of fatigue following a 100+ IP jump from 2010-2011, but even when he's right he won't offer much beyond a decent ERA and WHIP. The strikeout and win potential just isn't there.

Profile: Tim Stauffer was a nice surprise as a starter in 2011 before tailing off at the end of the season, and it may have been a sign of things to come as he made just one 2012 start while missing the rest of the season with elbow trouble (and eventually surgery). It's the second time in five years that arm woes cost Stauffer a season, and he'll need to prove both his health & effectiveness in 2013 before he can be seriously considered as a rotation option again. (Mike Petriello)

Profile: The 31-year old right-hander avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a one-year, $1.6M contract with the Padres, all but ensuring that his days as a starter are behind him. Stauffer threw 69.2 innings out of the pen last season and posted a solid 3.75 ERA (3.55 FIP) with an impressive 8.27 strikeouts per nine (he's got a 6.49 mark for his career). He'll continue to pitch out of the sixth and seventh innings in 2014, serving as a bridge between the starters and Joaquin Benoit in the eighth, though there's always the chance that he picks up a spot start here and there. Given closer Huston Street's injury history, Stauffer could find himself in a decent spot for some holds if the Padres were to ever need to move Benoit into the ninth, but obviously he is more one to pick up off the waiver wire than someone to seek out on draft day. (Howard Bender)

The Quick Opinion: Stauffer looked much better as a reliever than a starter. He'll reprise his role in the sixth and seventh innings again. There's also the chance that he picks up an occasional spot start, depending on the health of the rotation, but consider him more for holds and a small strikeout boost.

Profile: This 32-year-old righty spent his entire professional career prior to 2015 with San Diego, the last two almost exclusively as a reliever. Despite the near uniformity of his recent role, he uses the varied arsenal characteristic of a starter (four-seamer, sinker, slider-cutter, changeup, curveball) and has at times proven to be a reliable swingman in his career (10% strikeout minus walk rate, 48% ground-ball rate). He was quite adept in these past two seasons, having fanned more than 23% of the hitters he faced (with a 10.9% swinging-strike rate in 2014), a nice showing after a 2012 strain in his elbow and subsequent surgery cost him that entire campaign. Substandard results for ground balls (41.9%) left his luck and outcomes wanting in 2014, granted. But there appear to be no disturbing signs in his PITCHf/x data and peripherals, so a rebound in those areas should be forthcoming. He’s better-suited to the Anthony Swarzak role in Minnesota than was Swarzak. Still, that role isn’t fantasy-friendly, making Stauffer, if anything, a 2015 reserve pick or potential in-season acquisition in AL-only leagues, with some low profitability possible. (Nicholas Minnix)

The Quick Opinion: Stauffer’s varied pitch mix help him to be very effective as a long reliever and survive (sometimes better) as a starter. His likely role as the Twins’ long man and emergency starter obviously doesn’t carry fantasy appeal, however, except perhaps as an in-season AL-only streamer or fill-in.

Profile: Coming off of two effective seasons in the Padres’ bullpen, 2015 was a disaster for Stauffer. He suffered an intercostal injury early in the season, really struggled when he did pitch and was designated for assignment by two different teams. He signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks this winter and doesn’t currently look to have a spot where he’ll be pitching in the majors. As for the grisly details of his 2015 (which featured only 20.2 innings), his strikeout rate was a career worst and batters hammered 28.6% of his fly balls for homers. His fastball was also much slower than previous years and his swinging strike rate was less than half of his 2014 rate. Even if we assign all blame for 2015 to injuries, Stauffer is a 33-year-old reliever with zero career saves that, for the moment, lacks a spot in a major-league bullpen. He’s unlikely to find his way to fantasy relevance in Arizona. (Adam McFadden)

The Quick Opinion: Stauffer is coming off of his worst season and could struggle to find a spot in a major league bullpen. Even if not for the bad 2015, he isn’t at the age where fantasy owners should expect a leap in production.